Morning Brew: Temporary Garbage Dumps, Cancelled Canada Day Events, Miller Miller Miller

Parks are for people, not garbage.

I called our city councillor and was told there was no notice and no public consultation in the selection of the dump sites. If you don't like the line-up of idling cars parked on the sidewalk outside your front door, call Joe Pennachetti at the city and complain.

Are you kidding about the right of centre media comment? Have you ever looked at the Toronto Star before??? I swear that sometimes they actually take the press release from Comrade Miller's office and just print it verbatim. Hi kettle, meet pot.

Bitter, petulant and pathetic. That's how Andrew trolls.

I'll spank Miller too, when he deserves it. And I'll sing the praises of unions when they serve to justly protect worker rights. I'm not as nearly as black and white as you think, but feel free to continue your jab and run trolling. In the least, it gets people discussing the issues you're not willing to. :)

But you're his supporter, so he'll never deserve it in your eyes. And you don't see things in Black & White, that's why you paint all unions with the same brush with your generalizing comments? Here's a story that would never make it into your Brew http://www.thestar.com/article/653914 it would probably leave too many of your readers tickled red.

Do you two know each other?

@Andrew

You're right, Andrew. That KGB story wouldn't make it into the Brew because it's <b>not about Toronto</b> and it's a scattered <b>op-ed</b> piece.

Anyhow... I think the readers here (yourself included) are mature and intelligent enough to read anything I link to without being "tickled red" (or green or blue or chartreuse).

I won't be making any further attempts to involve you in constructive debate here, because after months of trying it hasn't worked in the slightest.

I don't think you can have a constructive debate when your only rebuttal is 'you're a troll'. You don't have to respond that's fine, but I think it's important to call you out when necessary, especially in regards to your biases.

It's not that hard, Craig, moving away from Toronto. Once you do you'll genuinely wonder why you didn't years ago.

People rushing to dump bags of garbage after less than a week should be ashamed of themselves. I live next to a beautiful park being used as a dump and I haven't used it. We are a household of 5 with the smallest bin size. If we don't need to dump, why do you? How would you like it if I parked my car on your lawn while I dump bags of my garbage on your front porch? That is essentially what's happening to us.

It's an unfortunate situation indeed, but I think a couple bags of garbage, as much as a normal week would produce, from the entire neighbourhood, can add up quickly and be unsightly.

Yes it's only been a single pickup cycle, but some people can't just store their garbage, for whatever reason. Maybe they live in a small house. Maybe they own an apartment building and don't have the space for all the tenants garbage. Although there are exceptions not everyone is just doing this to make a mess of things.

While the park by your house may look terrible now we're left with little choice. Could we allocate dumps far from residential areas? What about ppl who would have to take the ttc to get there? Not exactly fair for them or the other riders.

On a side note I think the drop off system would be a great solution (with transfer stations, not parks) to this strike, personal garbage reduction, but not job creation.

I have to wonder why someone who is so consistently negative about the content of this site bothers visiting at all. Maybe he just has way too much time on his hands. Must be nice.

"Maybe he just has way too much time on his hands. Must be nice."
Oh the irony, where are you getting your time to post - taking a break from saving the world? It's okay for Jerrold to 'troll' the newspapers for being too right and too pro-union, writing shitty comments with little relevance or insight - but anyone else who does the same is in the wrong for some reason. I didn't know I wasn't allowed to be negative, I must have misread the button below - does it say 'Add Praise'?

I heartily agree with our Ukrainian friend in The Star, but he's misidentified the KGB agent on the run from the CBSA - it's actually a D. Miller, located in the Mayor's office.

EVERY single person working at city hall should be fired. Bureaucrats, unionized employees, whomever, they are ALL overpaid and underperforming. Eliminate politicians' salaries and office budgets, put all outside workers on minimum wage, make all city employees at will, eliminate ALL benefits. No one working for the city (ex Fire & Police) should make more than 40k, and that should be for a 60 hour week.

Meanwhile all of the pickets are flagrantly breaking the law - detaining people is kidnapping - and Miller refuses to have them arrested and prosecuted like the vicious criminals that they are.

My point wasn't that only the NP are being critical of Mayor David Miller. Most media outlets are, and rightly so.

My point was that the National Post has gone overboard and their epidermis (i.e. their editorial bias/slant) is showing. <b>8 of the last 12 published stories on Posted Toronto</b> are about Miller's perceived incompetence. <a href="http://photosapience.com/temp/NP_miller_rants.jpg";>LOOK FOR YOURSELVES</a>. I'm not making this up! :)

LOL 'perceived' incompetence. You have the paper covering different stories with the Mayor's dealings with high taxes (war on plastic bags, cars), making our fair city pay the entire bill for new street cars and having the union go on strike - but it's all 'bias'. What an apologist you are - Lennin had a name for people like you, 'useful idiots'.

umm, sure.

Are CUPE members picketing the new dump sites? No. But I'll be giving you the finger and taking down the license plates of anyone who parks illegally or idles.

jesus christ! he did not just call you "a troll" he offered you some very valid and intelligent talking points. you, on the other hand, are just sitting about insulting everyone and everything who disagrees with you.

i wake up, i check the morning brew, read the comments, and all i can see is your hatred, all of the bullshit. that is hardly a pleasant way to start a day. people have different opinions, it happens; miller's supporters can and DO recognize when he is wrong. all media has a slant and sometimes, yes, it is particularly obvious.

all i can do is offer you a suggestion: if you don't like jerrold's opinions then stop reading HIS morning news round-up. wouldn't that be less bothersome to you and more productive?



i know this means you'll start slinging insults at me, but i don't hang out on blogTO all day, so go ahead, i won't see them.

The real shame in all of this is that 1/4 of the news round-up is dedicated to Jerrold preaching his personal politics while more worthy stories don't get the time to shine. Maybe the Brew has jumped the shark.

I apologize if my criticism does stand well against your entertainment meter. Such high standards you have, can anyone fulfill them?

"Except you can't seem to accept that people can have rational differences of opinion."
hypocrite

Bias in the media you say? (i.e. newspapers, blogs, etc). The death of objective reporting? You must be new to the interwebs. Welcome!
Next week, we're going to learn how to use the "email."

You seem to have you're own unreasonable standards for this blog, particularly in it not sharing your opinions.

The park bins are overflowing. There is litter throughout the park. The rink where the garbage is being contained is piled higher each day, the smell wafts through my open windows, and people are parking (with the engine running) on local residents' front lawns in their rush to unload their waste.

We've only missed ONE pick-up. Why are you dumping your garbage already? Are you that wasteful, or do you just not care since it's not your back yard? We are NOT "all in this together".

You're right, I'll jump in on the usual hooting and hollering from the majority of commenters:
"I want a green Toronto, that is until I have to pay for it. I like to tell people I'm all Earth conscious, but the day they don't pick up the trash my parents basement is a wasteland. I have to drive my car full of garbage to the dump - even though I hate cars and would never be caught dead driving one! Those stupid cars and their stupid unions, I hate all of the unions because they make more money than I do at my mall job and won't be satisfied until everyone makes $10 an hour like me. That's the only job I could acquire after my parents paid for my History degree at University, and anyone who aspires for anything more should be shot... but you know I'm all for free rights and shit"

Man, what happened to slagging on philosophy majors? I miss those days.

Just out of curiosity, how long do people here (especially "Look at your selfish blah blah blah") expect this strike to last?

You would change your view (which really generalizes the types of tasks that city workers perform) very quickly if you were to spend one day with a Toronto pubilc health inspector. You could not pay me enough to do some of their jobs.

I am certainly not in support of this strike, however. Any strike which holds an innocent third party hostage—which is to say a party that has nothing to do with the argument between the workers and management—should be illegal. I feel especially sorry for the families, single parents and otherwise, who have had to make other arrangements for daycare. Most of the focus is on garbage because it’s so visible and dramatic, but many people with small children have been left stranded because they simply don’t have other options.

Also, I know several city workers who did not want to be on strike and are refusing to picket. There are workers who just want to get back to work and don’t necessarily agree with the demands, but they’re in the union so they’re stuck.

Generally speaking Unions are among the most left leaning organizations in Canadian society yet somehow the supposition that Jerrold is anti-union labels him as a commie?

heeh!

This is a public health issue. The site at Christie Pits is the most accessible location for the majority of downtown residents and businesses. People are not simply bringing one or two bags per household. Some are returning again and again - 5, 10, one man brought upwards of 20 bags today. With weekly collection there are limits imposed. Here, it seems to be a free for all. Problem is, the rink the bags are stored in doesn't drain. When it rains, all that garbage will be sitting in a foot of water. How do you keep the garbage from leaching into surrounding areas? Who is checking that there are no paints/batteries/poisons or other toxins in the bags? Not to mention, when the temperature climbs and the bags of rotting food start to cook, that's a prime breeding ground for rats. What - you're not supposed to bring compostables? People are, and their waste is being accepted. Do you think we should wait until this becomes a serious problem, or should we look for solutions now?

1 - Legislate CUPE members back to work.
2 - Close park sites and open other downtown locations on municipal parking lots. Impose a bag limit. Refuse food waste. Use savings from strike to pay independent contractors to haul garbage daily from municipal sites to transfer stations or nearest waste management facility.
3 - People, be smarter about how much waste you're producing and hang on to it for a bit longer.

oh shut up idiot....we pay taxes and get less and less the more we pay.These workers are paid well, by us..and have more benefits than we will ever have....